Prosecutors ask for extension in Kira Steger-Trevino case

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Ramsey County prosecutors are asking a judge to extend an important testing deadline after the body of once-missing St. Paul woman Kira Steger-Trevino was recovered from the Mississippi River.

Authorities confirmed Thursday that the body pulled from an area just off the St. Paul Bluffs was that of Steger-Trevino, a 30-year-old who was missing and presumed murdered. Her husband Jeffery Trevino is in custody, charged with second degree murder in her death.

In a motion of continuance filed Thursday afternoon prosecutors reported that an autopsy on Kira Steger-Trevino revealed numerous wounds consistent with a violent death including a head wound, broken finger, bruising inside her upper lip and lacerations to her liver. They maintain additional testing needs to be done to determine which injuries happened before her death and which occured afterwards.

The Ramsey County Medical examiner also found partially digested food in Kira's stomach; further testing could lead to a more precise time of death.

Prosecutors also noted a number of additional pieces of evidence recovered from the body that needs to be matched to other scenes and discoveries; They maintain that need for additional testing time is the fault of defendant Jeffery Trevino due to his efforts to hide his wife's body and evidence of the crime.

The motion states that DNA testing will take four additional weeks, and the medical examiners complete autopsy will take six weeks. Prosecutors will ask that a new deadline for evidence testing results be set at a pretrial hearing May 15.

(Copyright 2013 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. )